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Could AI systems be conscious soon?

  • Marian Miner Cook Athenaeum (map)

When people worry about AI, they usually worry about what AI might do to us. But what about what we might do to AI? Robert Long, a philosopher who works on AI consciousness and welfare, and the Executive Director of Eleos AI Research, will explore what consciousness might look like in artificial systems. Drawing on philosophy of mind and the science of consciousness, he asks what happens when our best theories are applied to the AI systems of the near future. Given the rapid pace of AI development, he argues, we can't afford to wait for certainty — and philosophy, cognitive science, and neuroscience can help us act wisely in the meantime.